Two
weeks ago George Bush bestowed his public support on Ariel Sharon’s plans
for unilateral action in the West Bank and Gaza and dispelled “some
longstanding myths” by recognizing
“realities on the ground.”

This disingenuous White House
cue provides an opportunity to debunk a few other myths – myths central to
decades of Israeli propaganda.

The myth that at the end of the
nineteenth century Palestine was "A
land without people for a people without land":
Israel Zwangwill --
a contemporary of Theodor Herzl, the father of Zionism --
uttered the phrase first. It subsequently became the marketing slogan
for the Zionist project. Now almost everyone accepts --
Zionists included --
that 700,000 Arabs, Moslem and Christian, were coexisting at the time
alongside 70,000 Jews.

The myth that Jewish immigrants
made the desert bloom:
Palestinians have always held a deep attachment to the land. One hundred
years ago, most of the agricultural activity was in the hands of peasants.
Their citrus groves, orchards and olive trees were widely admired by
visitors from Europe. According to historian Neville Barbour in
The Gun and The Olive Branch (by
David Hirst,
2003), subsequent Jewish agricultural development was more a consequence of
the provision of superior funds rather than enhanced human capability.
Initially philanthropists such as Baron de Rothschild provided the financial
support for the Zionist enterprise - more recently, of course, it has been
the United States, whose taxpayers between 1949 and 2000 contributed $140
billion in aid to the Israeli economy. In pre Zionist times, however, the
desert was already blooming – more importantly it bloomed sustainably. Today
the intensive methods used by Israeli agriculture has left the Jordan River
dry and aquifers dangerously depleted. The demand for water far exceeds the
potential for local replenishment and it has to be imported from
neighbouring countries including Turkey.

The myth that the wars of 1948
and 1967 were the result of Arab aggression:
From 1942 onwards Plan Dalet was designed and refined by Zionist planners to
cleanse Arab inhabitants from the region and to expand Jewish territories
beyond areas granted to the embryonic Jewish state by the UN. Once the
Partition of 1947 had taken place, Plan Dalet was put into immediate effect
and, before regular Arab armies crossed the newly drawn borders of Israel
and Palestine, two hundred and fifty thousand Palestinian refugees were
already fleeing Haganah and Palmach forces – amongst them survivors of the
infamous Israeli massacre at Deir Yassin.

The 1967 war was in reality a
pre-emptive strike. Plans for such an eventuality had been in the making
since the end of the 1956 conflict. What is more, when the ‘67war
did break out --
contrary to views expressed at the time --
Israel’s very existence was not under threat -–
a fact acknowledged by General Matitiahu Peled five years later when he
stated, “There is no reason to hide the fact that since 1949 no-one was able
to threaten the existence of Israel”. In The Gun and the Olive Branch,
David Hirst also quotes Yitzhak Rabin, the Israeli Chief of Staff, who said,
“I do not believe that Nasser wanted war”. As far as Israel was concerned,
the war of 1956 was simply unfinished business and in 1967 prevailing
regional circumstances provided Israel with the pretext to conclude it.

The myth that Israel is a
democracy: It is not
a democracy in the western sense. It is an ethnic democracy. Twenty per cent
of Israel’s citizens are Israeli Palestinians. They are entitled to vote,
and they are required to pay taxes, but they do not have equal rights.
Discrimination is rife --
Israeli Palestinian property rights are curtailed, many towns and villages
across Israel are reserved for Jewish residents only, and state benefits and
social security for Israeli Palestinians are reduced. They are also subject
to official employment restrictions. Democracy in Israel remains the
privilege of Jewish citizens only.

The myth of Prime Minister
Barak’s "generous"
offer at Camp David:
The failure to reach agreement at Camp David provided useful cover for the
Israeli establishment to continue the war against the Palestinians. When the
Palestinians signed the Oslo agreement in 1993, they accepted for themselves
only 22% of the land of Palestine --
the West Bank and Gaza i.e. the land that had been captured by the Israelis
in 1967. The other 78%, which together with the 22% comprised the original
area of mandated Palestine, they conceded to Israel. This concession,
however, was insufficient for Ehud Barak. He wanted 69 illegal Israeli
settlements to be included in the final deal --
leaving 85% of Israeli settlers in place in these occupied territories. The
result would have been an unviable, non-contiguous Palestinian state,
consisting of a northern, central and southern version of a southern African
Bantustan, linked by slim slips of territory. Barak also insisted that
Israel retain control over Palestinian borders and airspace and the all
important water resources; nor was the Right of Return of Palestinian
refugees discussed at Camp David and there was no agreement on the future
status of East Jerusalem. Generous offer? More like a demand for surrender.

The myth that Palestinians need
peace more than Israel does:
The reality is that the Palestinians have little left to lose. They have
suffered so much and waited so long that, provided further delay leads
eventually to a just settlement, they would and could endure further
deprivation and suffering. Israel, on the other hand, cannot allow the
conflict to continue indefinitely --
not without inflicting grave damage to its reputation and to its
increasingly fragile and fractious consumer oriented society. To quote
Thomas Friedman in the International Herald Tribune on 11/03/02: “Some in
Israel and on the American Jewish right agree that it is already a war of
civilisations and that the only thing to do is kill Palestinians until they
say “uncle”. That is called "realism".
Well, let me tell you something else that is real. If this uncompromising
view is to become dominant in Israel and among American Jews, then cash in
your Israel bonds right now --
the country is doomed”.

Thank you Thomas Friedman. At
least that is clear. However, until now, Israelis don’t seem to have heard
you.

Nick Pretzlik is a semi-retired businessman
living in London, England. He travels frequently to the Middle East. He can
be reached via his website: www.nickpretzlik.com